Paul captures 20 of 24 Minnesota delegates in CD conventions

posted at 9:21 am on April 24, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

It’s tough these days to be a Republican in Minnesota. While the party managed to take control of both chambers of the state legislature in 2010 for the first time in decades, the organization is deeply in debt, thanks to mismanagement under previous leadership, and seems at times in total disarray. A sex scandal in the state Senate leader’s office that forced then-majority leader Amy Koch to give up her position didn’t help either. The latest stumble has national implications, however:

Minnesota will send 40 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Twenty of the 24 delegates based on congressional districts were awarded to Texas Rep. Ron Paul in selection processes that concluded this weekend.

Thirteen Minnesota delegates will be allocated based on the results of a statewide convention in May, according to Paul campaign senior adviser Doug Wead.

Wead wrote on his blog that GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is an a “panic” after the Paul landslide. Similar efforts to bolster the Texas congressman’s delegate count are underway in Iowa, Colorado, Maine and other states.

“[A] number of Romney Hawks are now deeply concerned that Ron Paul has already laid the groundwork for similar success in six more caucus states,” Wead wrote.

In Minnesota, delegates get chosen in congressional-district conventions, and they are not bound to any candidate. I ran for one of these positions in CD-02 on Saturday as part of a “unity slate” backed by GOP candidates for leadership positions in the organization. None of us even came close to winning; we later found out that the closest anyone else came to winning those slots was more than 100 votes behind the second and third place finishers, who tied. The same tie occurred when electing alternates.

So what happened? Paul supporters organized at the local level and got themselves elected as delegates to CD conventions. They then showed up to the conventions — unlike some others — and played by the rules. At our convention, there were no disruptions, no demonstrations, no attempts to hijack the proceedings. The Paul supporters just organized effectively and outboxed the party establishment. My radio partner Mitch Berg reported that the same thing happened in CD-04, but worries more about what comes next:

Some of their leadership was motivated by fairly palpable anger over the “way they were treated in 2008″, when quite a few GOP activists gamed the system to keep the first wave of Paul supporters out of power. To their political credit, they spent their four years organizing, and did a good job of it.

Less to their credit? While anger is a good motivator, “anger at the inner workings of a political party” has, I’m going to guess, a short shelf life. And at least in the Fourth CD, the anger was manifested by ballot. The twitter stream during the convention indicated that at other districts, Paul supporters booed Dan Severson and Pete Hegseth, whose main transgression was “not being Kurt Bills”, the Paul crowd’s candidate for Senate, or refusing to stand to support John Kline at the 2nd District convention when he was re-endorsed. …

While the crowd of Paul supporters at the convention Saturday carefully replaced their “Ron Paul” posters and stickers with “Kurt Bills” goodies, and voted to endorse Tony Hernandez by a 190-5-5 margin (after running a skillful campaign to win support from most of the establishment and Paul crowds), I have yet to hear a lot of support for, or even especially much awareness of, races farther down ticket or, more importantly, for candidates who get endorsed even if they’re not on the Paul slate.

Now, I know that there are a lot of good, committed people among the Paul crowd who are committed to using their positions in the GOP to work for the party, not just a candidate or two.

But I get a different impression from some of their leadership. Ronald Reagan once said that if someone agrees with you 70% of the time, it doesn’t make them 30% your enemy.

And from some of the Paul crowd’s leadership, I do get the impression that, whether motivated by single-candidate zeal or roiling anger over 2008 or one of the mind-boggling number of byzantine interpersonal pissing matches that seems to motivate so much of CD4 GOP politics no matter who the nominee or the cause celebre or what the defining issue is, the Paul crowd’s leadership, in the district and beyond, sees “70% friends” as “30% enemies”.

The Paul campaign wants to believe that they can replicate this outcome in other caucus states, and it’s certainly possible. But in Minnesota, they had an opening left by a party in serious disarray. How serious? They may soon find themselves homeless:

The Minnesota Republican Party is facing eviction for nonpayment of more than $111,000 in rent at its longtime headquarters near the Capitol.

Republican Party Chairman Pat Shortridge tried to assure party faithful on Monday that he expects the party will keep its home office, but acknowledged that the party has not paid a full month’s rent for a year.

“We’re not going to be evicted,” Shortridge said, although the eviction matter is due to be heard in Ramsey County District court next Tuesday. He added that the party is “continuing to negotiate on the back payments as well as on a lease that better fits both our space needs and our budget.”

The possible eviction is the latest blow for a state Republican Party that is swamped with debt and financial problems. The party, $2 million in arrears on bills and debt related to the 2010 gubernatorial recount, is being investigated by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board for inaccurate campaign reporting.

This isn’t the fault of Shortridge, who just recently took the party chair position to try to right the ship. The state GOP has had to focus on rebuilding its fiscal position more than the internal and external politics of the 2012 cycle. Without that kind of focus, the party didn’t have the resources to deal with the Paul organization, and the delegate wins are one consequence. That’s actually a minor consequence compared to what will happen if the state GOP doesn’t recover in time to organize for its effort in November to hold their legislative advantages, to say nothing of the mission to replace Amy Klobuchar in the US Senate.

Even if the Paul organization managed to steal a march in the caucus states, it’s not likely to damage Mitt Romney, at least not directly. Rick Santorum was winning more of the caucus states, so the delegates will mostly come from his column, not Romney’s. The only real threat will be that Paul delegates might embarrass the party at the convention by staging some kind of organized demonstration, but Ron Paul himself would probably keep that from happening; he wants to build the organization so that his son can use it within the GOP, not to excise Rand from the GOP. And once again, the Paul supporters in the CD-02 convention didn’t aim at disruption at all — just victory for their cause.

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Comments

We didn’t. We sent troops to stop the Nazis after they declared war on us.

Newsflash: The Germans could have published that they were executing every Jew in Germany on the front page of Die Welt, and nobody would have gone to war to stop them, provided they didn’t invade Poland. No less a Jew than Henry Kissinger (the uber-Jew, if ever there was one) would tell you that, short of Germany making war, the Holocaust was a Jewish problem, not an American one.

My experience at the delegates district convention is that the Paul people were largely nominating CONSERVATIVES from small towns and counties and since they were organized, out volunteered,and out worked the fat and lazy EGOP big city boys and girls from the locales that the Rats control anyway, they WON. This is Romneys problem, he can only defeat conservatives in liberal bastions and come the general he will get his ass handed to him in those same liberal bastions where the class warfare clown is out organizing him with OWS, Union Thugs and minorities.
The EGOP is fat, lazy, incompetent and allowing the Lyin kING to rip our constitution to shreds, burn it and stomp on the embers.
When and Where has Boner tried to stop him?

The conservatives now hold 14/16 top party spots, whether or not you like Ron PaUL this CANNOT BE A BAD THING OR WORSE THAN A BUNCH OF FAT LAZY BIG SPENDERS CONTROLLING IT.

Please refrain from calling Kissinger a Jew, and a uber-Jew at that. He is the “Hollywood Jew”, by every definition.

riddick on April 24, 2012 at 2:54 PM

Please. He’s Jewish, proudly Jewish, and rose to the very highest rank of a field well respected in the Jewish community, i.e. academia. Damn few Jewish parents who would stop talking about their son Henry, the professor at Harvard.

This “mittbots” stuff is simply a dodge, the fact is the caucus was deliberately monkeywrenched to give Paul a “victory” he simply didn’t deserve.

Rebar on April 24, 2012 at 1:25 PM

Interesting, and strange at the same time, that not one Herr Doktor supporter mentions what happened in Nevada (Las Vegas) primary. Herr Doktor’s camp did lots of robo-calls asking supporters to crash an evening caucus set up for Jews on a Sabbath, which a good number of them did in effect casting their votes twice (at least), once at a station where they live and then in Summerlin station claiming they are “Jews”. Ultimate irony from an anti-semitic crowd of Herr Doktor supporters.

If anyone knows how to game a system it is Herr Doktor. Be it House seat or elections.

Please. He’s Jewish, proudly Jewish, and rose to the very highest rank of a field well respected in the Jewish community, i.e. academia. Damn few Jewish parents who would stop talking about their son Henry, the professor at Harvard.

Damn few.

JohnGalt23 on April 24, 2012 at 2:57 PM

Yeah. I am one of those Jews he was so clearly condemning to gas chambers. Surviving Holocaust and not learning anything from it is a sign of an idiot.

He, along with West Side/Hollywood Jews who give the rest of us a bad name.

Yeah. I am one of those Jews he was so clearly condemning to gas chambers. Surviving Holocaust and not learning anything from it is a sign of an idiot.

He, along with West Side/Hollywood Jews who give the rest of us a bad name.

riddick on April 24, 2012 at 3:05 PM

You’re an American (presumably). It is that fact that prevents you from being the subject of political violence (for the most part). That you are Jewish is of no concern to the argument. As Dr. Kissinger would explain in terms far more eloquent than I am capable of.

As far as who is and is not an idiot, his c.v. is widely available, and most impressive, even by Jewish mother standards. I wonder if he would say the same of yours.

Ron Paul voters seeking to bring down the GOP proves what traitors they really are starting with their idiot candidate. I hate them all for the way they constantly seek to undermine the party instead of setting up a dialogue. And I really mean it so I’ve no intention of responding to any of the military-hating, anti-American pot heads who support Paul.

Happy Nomad on April 24, 2012 at 9:29 AM

I support Ron Paul, the Military and America. This is why we don’t think our troops should be sacrificed to nation-build in other nations, nor police the world. It costs our military members their lives and drains our already bankrupt treasury.

I’M VERY PRO AMERICA, AND PRO MILITARY. I’M JUST NOT AN IDIOT.

The party has a system setup this way and the Ron Paul people are simply beating you at your own game. In fact, the GOP rigged it this year to make it EASIER for Romney – so they thought. It’s backfired.

Ron Paul people are not anti-America, we’re pro constitution. We’re not anti-military, we simply support Constitutionally declared wars and no nation building. These were foundational to the GOP in years past and are crucial to the fundamentals of conservatism going forward. We won’t let you emotionally ignorant war mongering monsters take our party down the rabbit hole of intervention.

The core problem in America is the acceptance of government intervention. Through both, the welfare and warfare state. The Ron Paul people are the ones with the balls to stand up explain the evil that is government intervention and how that’s the primary flaw in mainstream political politics. We’ve got the ability to explain that the income tax is theft. We are the only ones who can accurately articulate the true conservative message because Ron Paul’s the only one who does not promote the bastardized version of it you see from Romney.

The idea that we’re somehow destroying the GOP is laughable. We’re simply playing the game as it was designed by the elite GOP. You don’t sound very American, which is probably why you said you’ve “no intention to responding” to anyone who disagrees with you.

You know you lack the substance to defend your views so you want to shut yourself off from discussion. That’s fine by me, because it still gives me the opportunity to illustrate how lazy and ignorant our political system has become which explains how we end up with such lame candidates like Mitt Romney.

We’re not going to go quietly in the night.

We’re not going to let you emotional war mongers off the hook.

You’re not conservative anymore, but we are, and we’re going to stay here and continually remind you of that until you join us or you join the liberal-moderates in a different party.

You’re an American (presumably). It is that fact that prevents you from being the subject of political violence (for the most part). That you are Jewish is of no concern to the argument. As Dr. Kissinger would explain in terms far more eloquent than I am capable of.

JohnGalt23 on April 24, 2012 at 3:16 PM

I am an American, proud one.

Kissinger did explain it clearly enough, we are all about allowing others perish in gas chambers. A la liberals who sent an entire ship of Jews to be exterminated by Nazis in WWII.

The idea that we’re somehow destroying the GOP is laughable. We’re simply playing the game as it was designed by the elite GOP.

fatlibertarianinokc on April 24, 2012 at 3:18 PM

Too bad Libertarian Party is not GOP last time I checked. Can you or someone else explain to us, clearly, why is it that Herr Doktor is so opposed for what GOP stands for and yet runs as a GOP candidate.

You guys should read your own posts, you contradict your own points. Herr Doktor IS the Libertarian Party, as such he should run as a Libertarian Party candidate and not game the GOP system. You get it, Libertarian? GOP? Two different things?

The GOP says one thing on the campaign trail, and most of what they say (smaller government, less spending, accountability, etc) is totally in line with what most libertarians believe (hence why so many are in the GOP or vote GOP as independents, and why Paul is GOP). The problem is that those elected officals who talked a big game at election time about constitutional small government and less spending then go to Washington, where they spend and grow government like Nicholas Cage on a Las Vegas bender, quite contrary to what they told their constitutents they would do.

So you tell me, what does the GOP stand for? Because what they say the stand for and what their voting record says they stand for are two very different things.

So you tell me, what does the GOP stand for? Because what they say the stand for and what their voting record says they stand for are two very different things.

gravityman on April 24, 2012 at 3:37 PM

Like I said, please read your own posts, actually think about what the say.

Do you see me disagreeing with what you said about GOP?

Now, let’s back track a bit and let me spell out clearly what I said and what you so obviously missed.

Since, by your own admission Her Doktor does not stand for what GOP is and does, why it is that he runs under a GOP ticket? When, as you and others, and he himself, tell everyone within earshot that is a LIBERTARIAN PARTY leader and do3esn’t like GOP policies.

If he runs on a GOP ticket, then he aligns himself with GOP actions. Do you understand this? He should run as a third party candidate otherwise. And according to you and every other Herr Doktor supporter he does have the numbers to beat Hussein. So, what’s the deal?

Good God I just realized the idiot mainstream (Bush) Republicans hate Paul and Conservatives so much they would vote for Obama just to stop either.
Now that is a FU’ed political party and it deserves to be put down!
Hopefully Romney will finish this crappy party!

So, if we were never attacked should we just keep on working and fishing? Maybe do some lawn bowling? While others are getting cut down.

Mike from SoCal on April 24, 2012 at 3:52 PM

Tell it to the Armenians.

Or the Rwandans.

Or the Cambodians.

Or the Sudanese.

Or the Chinese.

Or the Ukranians.

Or any of the any number of peoples who suffered mass murder at the hands of some controlling government and didn’t have the United States go to war with that controlling government on their behalf.

The United States military, and the foreign policy that it is the strong right arm of, exists to protect the people of the United States. Not Germans, Jewish or otherwise.

Nobody would have gone to war to stop the murder of German Jews by the German government. Any doubt about that? Take a look at what we did during the Ukranian forced collectivization, or during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. A lot more people died than during the Holocaust, and we did nothing.

Which is exactly what we would do, and are doing today. How a nation treats us is of concern to our foreign policy makers. How they treat their own people… not so much.

Too bad Libertarian Party is not GOP last time I checked. Can you or someone else explain to us, clearly, why is it that Herr Doktor is so opposed for what GOP stands for and yet runs as a GOP candidate.

You guys should read your own posts, you contradict your own points. Herr Doktor IS the Libertarian Party, as such he should run as a Libertarian Party candidate and not game the GOP system. You get it, Libertarian? GOP? Two different things?

riddick on April 24, 2012 at 3:27 PM

Are you saying that Mitt Romney represents what the GOP stands for?

State Run Medical Care.
Federal government bailouts.
High Taxes.
Massive Government Spending.
More Welfare.
More Warfare.
Undeclared, Unconstitutional Wars.
Civil Liberty Destruction.

You obviously read just a few threads in recent times, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking the question. I actually share same views on your candidate, although the only difference between the two is that one is a racist and anti-semite and the other is not. All already pointed out and discussed in this thread and a good number of others. And both do not, in any way, share anything with GOP philosophy.

Inside, outside, whatever. Neither belongs to GOP nor represents GOP’s philosophy. Both should have run as third party candidate or better yet, for Romney, he should have challenged Hussein in the Democratic Primary. Neither controlled spending.

I’m consistently reading how Paul is not in line with the GOP. I’m from Utah, raised in a mostly Republican household, associate with mostly Republicans, live in the MOST Republican state in the Union, and I and most everyone I know support Ron Paul. How are we not GOP?

I’m being serious, lay out for me where Ron Paul and the rest of the GOP actually differ in principle. What does the GOP platform and establishment say we should do or not do that Paul and his supporters differ on.

Just because some of you are uncomfortable with his ideas (because you can tell he actually means what he says, and isn’t just paying lip service) doesn’t mean he isn’t a conservative or Republican. If anything, I say he is more conservative than most posters on here because he’s arguments stem from facts, rationale, Constitutionalism, and are not knee-jerk reactionary, emotional responses.

I’ll level with you, my friends and I are the future of the GOP. The party is changing from what has been the norm over the last few decades. Accept it. We are not going anywhere.

I’m being serious, lay out for me where Ron Paul and the rest of the GOP actually differ in principle. What does the GOP platform and establishment say we should do or not do that Paul and his supporters differ on.

Perhaps someone like Mark Levin can articulate things beter for you and others who claim Boy from Brazil is a “consitutionalist”? And other Boy from Brazil’s claims.

Ron Paul’s lifetime heroes are Martin Luther King and Ghandi. He routinely provided free medical services to poor blacks and other minorities in his medical practice, rather than take medicare/medicaid. His economic principles stem from Ludwig von Misses, a Jew and from a Jewish family. Ron Paul, early in his career voted for MLK holiday, which is big for him because he’s usually always against national holidays. In fact, in the so-called “racist newsletters” in which he appears to hate Martin Luther King, he voted FOR MLK Holiday BEFORE the racist parts were even published. Why would he publicly publish racist materials, meanwhile support MLK Holiday? Furthermore, Paul has changed his views on the death penalty because of how unfairly it’s applied to poor minorities (yes, blacks). He also makes reference to the numbers of blacks in prison for non-violent drug arrests and how that should be stopped too.

Paul is incapable of racism because he does not see people in groups. He see’s everyone as an individual, deserving of their life, liberty and property. Period.

If I had to side with the John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Juan McSame, Lindsay Grahamnasty, Bush 1,2,3 big spending wing of the Repunk party or the Ron Paul conservatives I witnessed being elected to leadership positions in my district I would say Good Bye Boehner, McConnell, McCain, Grahamnasty, Bush 123 Big Spenders!
Welcome new Constitutionalists, and God Speed!
These Patriots are here to stay and I’m not even sure Ron Paul is in it for the Presidency. He even said he didn’t know if he had the stamina, he is in it to take the Party back to the Founding Fathers Vision of the Constitution and the more I hear the Mittbots and E-GOP whine about his successes in the volunteering, the stepping up to lead and DO SOMETHING for America, the more inclined I am to join him!

if someone agrees with you 70% of the time, it doesn’t make them 30% your enemy

Reagan was Ok as Prez, but using him as some political guru is foolish. The quote sounds nice, but isn’t necessarily true. It depends on the content of that 30%. It’s entirely possible that 30% makes him a 100% enemy.

Mark Levin is a blowhard, and Jeff Lord is a pipsqueak that is trying punching far above his weight. Levin hates anyone that doesn’t agree with him nearly 100%. Paul has his problems (the Manning thing broke it for me, for example), but Levin and his ilk are setting the party up for far worse things when they go after the Paulbots in the insulting fashion he does. From what I’ve seen, Paul’s minions have been wronged far more than they been doing wrong. What the RINO core of the party tries to do to him, they try to do to conservatives constantly. When Neocons (and Levin is a moderate Neocon) go after Paul, they also after the real conservatives. Using anything written, or spoken by Levin on the matter will be suicidal in the long run because he does not have the long term interests of conservatives at heart.

Calling Ron Paul anything other than Ron Paul is utterly idiotic. Calling him “Herr Doktor” or similar nonsense says more about your lack of intellect than it does about him.

If you ever figure out what the GOP actually stands for, then give me a call. At least Paul has been consistent on his principles. The GOP on the other hand says one things, does another, then does all they can to suppress anyone that doesn’t go along with them. Paul scares them to death, and the hoax about racism and anti-semitism aren’t why he scares them to death.

Just read through the exchange. Its your opinion, in no shape nor form a fact that Woods “destroyed” Levin. I side with Levin on this one. Hilarious when Woods calls Herr Doktor a “conservative”.

Sounds like we should shut down Supreme Court. Just ask Woods to tell what Framers had in mind since he is the one who really knows the answer. How do we know that? Easy, Woods says so. So, some obscure author can only “make a name for himself” by challenging Levin.

Old time Russians, my father in law included, still believe that Stalin was a great man. “If only he had known what is going on, he surely would have stopped it and taken care of the murderers” is the phrase you still hear today. Moronic? Utterly delusional? Idiotic and misguided, especially when heard from someone whose family was repressed in the “redistribution of wealth” zeal? Yes, yes and yes. Useful idiots? Absolutely Yes.

Herr Doktor didn’t know that for decades openly racist and anti-semitic articles were published under his name. Sure… It wasn’t him and it wasn’t his ideas on paper. Sure…What size bridge do you want for that unicorn plantation?

Defending an openly racist and anti-semitic politician, great idea that will get you far. Keep trying, folks.